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Electric Boxes In SHear Wall????

01-06-2008, 04:40 PM

Is it a big deal to put a 3 or 4 gang switch box or a receptacle box in a shear wall? I have 2 internal shear walls sheathed on both sides with OSB. Do I need to consult an engineer to put in a few boxes? Thanks.

I am not an engineer but I would venture to guess that if the wall is sheared on both sides, then it probably has more than enough overhead to handle the 10 or so square inches of surface area you are going to remove to accommodate a few switch boxes.
Do you have plans for the house the shear wall is located in?
Usually in the general notes of the plans the engineer will layout the do's and dont's for specific items like shear wall schedule, hold downs and things like that.
I would look there first.
If you do NOT have plans then you can get a copy of the "approved" plans which were submitted to the city when the wall was built if there was a permit pulled or it was part of a larger remodel etc. by going to the building and safety department of the city where the house is located.

Comment

Yeah - unfortunately I drew the plans myself! An engineer checked & stamped my work with a few minor modifications. I just never thought about a few electrical boxes being any concern. I am ALWAYS surprised by what mundane little detail will cause the BO to have a fit & I hate having to bug my engineer about these stupid little things 9 months later so I try to figure it out myself. Based on some other comments & some info from APA I am not going to worry about it & so will probably fail framing inspection. Oh Well!